Playing precisely, without analysis paralysis, requires
positional judgement
Simply: if I put my pieces on the best squares, I will probably
win
Decisive combinations will appear on the board
von Scheve-Teichmann (Berlin 1907)
control and monopolise the centre
cramps your opponent's position
developing with tempo (e.g. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3) is usually pretty
good
“develop knights before bishops”
Chernev reasons knights are slower than bishops
it's also more clear where the knights should be in the
first couple of moves
Place each piece as quickly as possible on the square where it
is most effective
by move 6 white's centre is kind of weak
in order to not lose the d-pawn, a lot of white's pieces
have to defend it — whilst trying to develop
Develop all your pieces before starting any combinations
h3 just puts a big target on your h-pawn — don't move the f, g
and h-pawns unless essential
10. … Nxe5 is better than the pawn capture, since it's a really
good square for the knight and something like 11. Nxe5 Qxe5
removes the minor piece defending white's king
… and that's what happened
if white does nothing, there's 12. … bxh3 gxh3 Qg3+ Kh1
Qxh3+ Kg1 Ng4 Bf4, which looks terrible for white
and then white played Nd2, blocking in the bishop! No!
Stop it!
there are still some drawing chances here for white, but they're
very fiddly